The Government of Nepal intends to send its recently updated map to India, Google and the international community by mid-August, the Minister said. The revised map includes the Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani Indian territories.
“We will be sending the updated map including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura to various UN agencies and the international community including India. The process will be completed by the middle of this month,” Padma Aryal, minister for land management, cooperatives and poverty alleviation told ANI.
The ministry has asked the department of measurement to print 4,000 copies of the updated version of Nepal’s map in English language and send it to the international community.
The Measurement Department has printed on 25,000 copies of the latest version of the map, which has been distributed throughout the country. Provincial and all other public offices will receive copies free of charge, while people can buy copies at the Nepali Rupees 50.
However, changes are taking place in the midst of a violent internal dispute in the governing Nepal Communist Party. A rival group led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the party, called for Oli’s resignation, stating that his latest anti-India remarks were “neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate.”
In June, the Parliament of Nepal approved the bill of amendment to the Constitution, which endorses the current map of the world, including the territories with India. India called the move impractical and said it was not based on “historical facts or evidence.”
“This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
Relations between India and Nepal have been strained since Defense Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulek Pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on 8 May.
India controls Lipulekh, Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and its maps show the area as part of its territory — this has been contested by Nepal. While Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road, claiming that it passed through its territory, India rejected the claim.